Heartless life
by draw-yourworld
Summary: Would you give up your heart for the person you love? spoilers: post A Day in the Death and Doctor Who season 4 - crossover doctor who. ianto/jack
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Donna passed the fourteen page of the same magazine for the fourth time, while it was nice once in a while to look at the earth's rich and famous life, and not at an actress with four arms celebrating her 125th weeding with what Donna could only describe as a futuristic toaster, she was getting bored, and the desire to throw the magazine that was resting in her lap to a certain alien, who called himself the Doctor, was really temping.

5 hours ago

_Donna was looking at the beautiful display that was in front of her, after a week of running, a peaceful day on a market wasn't so bad, and an unlimited credit card or whatever they called it in this time always helped to improve her mood._

_She looked to her right at the Doctor who was attempting to demonstrate the wonders of a strange device to the store's owner, but the man was clearly not interest at the doctor's ranting if he wasn't going to purchase the object. _

_She smiled at his antics for a second and went back to glance at the __jewels__. Rings and __necklaces of every sized and colours, so beautiful. The salesman looked at her with a smile and opened a black box that was resting at the corner of the table. He nods at her and looked down, Donna watched at the black collar that was resting inside the box, a black string so thin that was almost imperceptible by her eyes hold a small pendant, a black circle with a stone in the middle of it. A pair of hands lifted the collar and handed it to her. _

_She grabbed it and looked at it a little closer, she moved it side to side, but as the metal shined like a crystal, the stone remained dark, it was like the light couldn't reach it. _

'_It's beautiful,' she said to the salesman, the man glanced at her with a content look at her compliment. She extended her hand trying to return it to him but the man lifted his hands and stopped her._

'_For the heartless one,' he said with a smile on his face. Donna looked at him not comprehending what he was saying, the man bended forward, but before she could turned away, he put his hand on her shoulder and whisper in her ear. And Donna put the collar on her pocket._

'_And if you put this near a 65886655252585 frequency it could cause an explosion that can take this city with it, but if you think about it, you have a probability of 1 in 1.567.896, you know in the caras system it's illegal to have one of this and the penalty it's to plant a kruk tree also called the man eaters and….' The doctor stopped himself when the device was taking of his hands and the man started to walk really fast down the street. _

'_Oh, well, let's look for Donna, then'. The doctor turned around and started to look for the red head that he knew was going to stick out; when the people of this planet were all born with green fluorescent hair, and there she was, standing on the middle of the street. _

_He walked to where she was standing and looked at the several bags that were resting in her hands and sighed. He was lucky that the Tardis was bigger on the inside. _

'_Come on Donna, you're lucky that the walk to the tardis is a short one or the weight of the bags would have make a hole on the floor while you walk,' nothing, strange, usually that kind of comment ended up with her hand hitting his head and something about calling her fat._

'_Donna, Donna'! he called her name, passing his hand in front of her face to get her attention. _

'_What are you doing?' she said grabbing his hand not so gently._

'_I was calling you, but nothing, daydreaming again?' He said to her with a smile on his face while she sent him a murderous look. _

_The two walked back to the Tardis, but as Donna passed the door something shined in her right pocket._

The doctor was busy trying to repair his ship because for some reason she didn't want to move at all. He looked at the circuits with a frown on his face and after several hours he was getting really frustrated. He sighed for a third time until he decided to do another tactic, he grabbed his sonic screwdriver, changed the setting while he was hit by a flying magazine.

'Wh--- what?' he said while he looked down at the offensive object that had hit his head.

'Oi Alien boy, how long it's going to take you?' she asked him without any remorse on her eyes at the recent attempt to cut his head, humans weren't inform of the danger of paper cuts.

'It's going to take me a few more minutes, why don't you re-read your magazine?' he said while he took out the wires that were in his way but after seeing that most of them ended up entangling in his head and risking a possible choking situation, he decided to called his companion for a little help.

'Donna, why don't you…' but as he looked up at Donna, he noticed that something was wrong, she was glancing at his right with a rare look on her face, a look that she had never showed before not matter how horrible or dangerous it had been, because along the beauty and the wonders, there was always a little horror, and no matter how much he tried he couldn't always protect at his companions from them.

The Doctor couldn't help but followed with his eyes at the exact point she was looking at. And he looked in surprised at the man who was inside his ship.

He was just a man in a suit, but Donna wasn't looking at his face or the clothes he was wearing, she was looking lower, right in the middle of his chest where his heart was or more precisely at the blood that was staining his white shirt and it was getting bigger and bigger.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

5 hours ago – Earth – Cardiff

Jack looked at the man who was sitting in front of him, he watched his lips move as he talked, how he moved his hands while he cut the food that was on his plate. What was around them didn't matter, the wooden square tables with white tablecloth or the waiter dressed in black from head to foot that had taken their order a moment ago.

It had started two weeks ago with a simple scratch.

Toshiko looked at her computer with her arms cross and a frown on her face, she could feel Owen's eyes on her back mocking her as she waited for the inevitable sound that she knew she was going to hear in the next few seconds, she uncrossed her arms, put her fingers in the keyboard and waited 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and there it was again the strange noise that had been interrupting her work for the last few days, and no matter how many programs she passed through the system it didn't go away and it was starting to annoy her or more precisely her pride at not being able to find the source of it.

Every time at 22:05 she heard it along with a few fluctuations in the rift readings and it only last precisely 5 minutes. Until now it hadn't be a huge problem because of the short period of time, but she wasn't going to be beat by a sound.

So in 5 minutes she had to put all her knowledge to use if she wanted to find the source of the problem. Because unfortunately it didn't leave any trail at all.

Toshiko looked at the clock and cursed under her breath when she saw that she only had one minute to work, she pressed the keyboard keys at full speed but every one of her attempts were blocked by something or someone that was stronger than their Mainframe.

But it wasn't only the velocity of her fingers or the tactics that she drew in her mind while she worked faster and faster, it was the noise, the noise that pierced her head wide opened and it didn't allow her to concentrate on what she was doing.

Even though she had turned down the volume, the sound didn't go away.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1; time was up and Toshiko lost.

She cursed under her breath, while she saved the file with all her work on one of her folders, she could hear Owen laughing while he left to perform the autopsy that Jack had asked for two hours ago. She knew he found it entertaining, her inability to find a solution to this problem and it broke her heart a little that he laughed at her efforts.

She took a deep breath and tried to forget about Owen for a second and she concentrated on her work once again because it didn't matter what he thought right now, the only thing that was important was that Jack trusted her abilities to solve the mystery behind the noise.

So she decided in a new tactic, now she had new material to work with. For some reason the noise was different every day, only a little, but it was enough. She put the five examples that she had collected in the last five days and passed them all together on one program, while she waited, she got up from her chair and walked to the coffee machine, but as she reached it she looked in surprise at the scene that was in front of her.

She watched Ianto while he tried in vain to make the coffee, she guessed it was a little difficult with an adult man hanging on his back. Jack had his arms around Ianto's waist while he whispered in his ear. But while Ianto told him to let go he didn't make to much effort to stop him and his smile said it all.

She turned around with a smile on her face and went back to work; she sat on her chair to face the challenge once again. Her program was complete one hundred percent.

But the noise that came out of her computer was something that she had heard before many times, it was the sound that Owen heard every time he put his stethoscope on someone chest.

It was the sound of a heartbeat.

While she frowned at her computer, not understanding what she was hearing, the alarms blared, weevil sighting.

Jack drove the SUV while he listened to Toshiko through the ear piece giving him the exact directions where the weevils were. While he drove, he lifted his head and looked thought the rear view mirror at the back seat of the car where he was sitting looking straight ahead.

Ianto could feel someone watching him so he turned his head and smiled at the observer's reflection. Satisfied with what he had seen, Jack smiled and looked at the road once again.

5 minutes later they arrived to their destination, the SUV stopped and a few seconds later, Jack, Gwen and Ianto got out of the car.

'Okay, we have two weevils, you two go right and I'll go left, ready?' Both nodded at him and walked to the left.

Jack watched them as they disappeared in the distance and he started to walk in the opposite direction, after a few meters of walking he could hear the distinct sound of the weevil's growling. He put the anti-weevil spray out and head to the direction where the sound had came from. And there it was, Jack smirked and ran at full speed at the alien that hadn't noticed his presence yet. He jumped at the weevil's back, and with his right arm he used the spray right on his face.

The alien didn't put much of a fight so he grabbed him and took him back to the SUV on a few minutes. After he was finished, he called his teammates.

'One weevil to go, how is everything on your side'?' nothing and Jack started to ran.

'Toshiko, tell me where Ianto and Gwen are, right now!!!' Jack kept on running while he listened to Tosh talking to him trough the ear piece, but as he was getting near, he heard his name.

'Jack'

'Gwen, it's everything all right?' He asked but he never stopped running.

'Jack, it's Ianto, he is hurt' and his heart stopped just for a second.

They had got the reading wrong and they missed the third weevil that ran at full velocity against Ianto and had given him a big scratch on his right arm, which was now resting behind the black suit and white shirt. He guessed that's when his bad habit had begun, because he wanted to remember forever.

'---- I was naked, completely naked, covered all in chocolate and…' Ianto huffed and looked at Jack while he watched him, it had been almost constant, and he could feel his eyes all the time. At the beginning it had been nice, then annoying and now… now he understood why he did it and it scared him. No, it just made him sad to think that someday he'll not be there for him and sometimes he wished that he could find the way to stay with Jack forever, but he'll never say that to him because he knew for all the smiles, he wouldn't wish his fate to anyone.

So he did the only thing he could do, he reached out with his hand and grabbed his and finally he looked up at him and Ianto smiled at the man he loved.

'Why don't we pay and go back to the hub?' he said while he kept his hand on top of Jack's. Jack opened his mouth to answer but his phone rang.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Donna looked at the Doctor while he ignored her and concentrated on his work once again after she had hit him with the flying magazine, and now she had nothing to read. So she started to tap her fingers against her leg, she couldn't blame him, after all she wanted was to get out of here and visit a new planet soon, probably one with a spa.

She continued to tap her fingers _tap tap tap_ and she started to imagine all the possible sceneries that came to her mind; involving massages and slices of cucumbers over her eyes or the alien equivalent of that. She huffed and lifted her head to look at the alien who was working on the ship that was going to take them to a new destination or so she hoped.

But as she watched the Doctor's antics with the several wires that came out of the consoles ship, she noticed something at the corner of her eye, so she turned her head to the right and looked in surprised at the man who was standing at the Doctor's right.

She opened her mouth to speak, but she just couldn't say anything at all, while she watched at the man who was there she took in everything she could see, the black suit with white stripes, the blue eyes and the young face that stared at nothing; but as she kept on looking, she started to feel something strange in her right pocket, it was so warm that it could heat all her body at once.

But as she started to classify the new feeling that course through her body, she glanced at the little stain that was in the man's chest, it was so small like a drop of water in red but for some reason she couldn't stop looking and while she did it, the stain started to get bigger and she could only gasp when she realized what she was really seeing, it was blood.

Lost in the sighting that it was in front of her, she didn't hear the Doctor speaking to her and she couldn't watch as he turned his head to look in the direction she was seeing, she wanted to scream _don't do it, don't watch _but she just couldn't.

The Doctor looked at the man who was inside his ship, he took a step forward in his direction until he realized he was stuck in the wires, while he lowered his head to untangle the mess he was in, the man said one word.

'Jack' and the doctor's hearts jumped.

He looked up at the man's eyes, so blue and young but at the same time so old. He left the wires behind and he walked to the man who was in front of him, the man who wasn't there at all. He could feel it in the fabric of time and what he was seeing right now was only an image and nothing else, it was what sometimes people saw and called a ghost, and images of time, of what it was or what it was going to come and he hoped for the later, he hoped he had the chance to save the boy who was in his ship.

'Hello' he said to him as the stain got bigger and bigger, and he knew he couldn't stop it, he could only watch.

The man didn't seem to hear him at all, he was looking down at his chest where his heart was but it wasn't a look of horror or fear, it was just pure acceptance at what was happening to him.

But the Doctor wasn't planning to give up, because this was his only opportunity to find out more about him and gave him a possibility although tiny to save this man. He could only hope that what he was seeing right now was just a possible future.

So he stood in front of him and as he prepared to talk, the man lifted his head and looked at him right in the eye, but what surprised him was the recognition he could see there.

'You're the Doctor' he said, while he put both hands over his bleeding heart. And the first word that came out of the man's mouth rang through his mind _Jack_

_The Doctor looked at his companion, sitting quickly on the Tardis floor so unlike him but at the same time he could understand the feeling, it didn't matter that the world had been saved or that nobody remembered what had happened there were things to do and resting wasn't one of them._

_So the doctor looked at Jack, at the man he had left behind, he took in the dirty clothes, the disheveled hair and the lower head that was watching the floor. He took a deep breath and he decided that just for a minute he could rest, the world could wait for a while._

_He walked to his old companion and sat right next to him with his back resting on the Tardis wall and closed his eyes._

_Moments later he could feel Jack doing the same, so he turned his head to the side and looked at him. But Jack was to preoccupied doing something else, he was looking at an object that was resting between his fingers, from where the Doctor could see, it was a small photograph but the most intriguing thing wasn't the object itself it was his expression, one he had never saw on his companion's face before._

_So he tried to look closer, and there it was the reason behind Jack's smile, it was the photograph of a man sitting on a sofa writing on a notebook and nothing else._

_But he knew he couldn't see what Jack saw in the picture, because it wasn't what was in it, it was the feeling behind it._

'_Take me home doctor' And now he was looking at him and suddenly he realized the word that Jack had used 'home' and the doctor smiled._

Now he could remember, he had seen this boy before, inside a small photograph resting in the captain's hands. But no name came with the new information and time was getting shorter.

He was smiling at him, not caring about the wound that was taking his life and he said.

'He's not wrong, he is just only human' And with a smile the image disappeared from sight, but the doctor just stood there looking to the place where the man had been a moment ago.

Thinking fast, he turned around and took control of the Tardis console, and she came to life preparing them for their next trip.

He looked at Donna who was still lost looking behind his shoulder.

'Donna, Donna' At hearing her name being called, she looked at the Doctor, a little confuse at the recent event but before she could asked what had happened, she looked at the doctor's smile or as she had classified it the crazy smile, the smile that made you smile and assure you that not matter what everybody lived.

So Donna smiled, because they were going to travel and saved a life.

'Next stop, Cardiff, Torchwood'


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Jack untangled his hand from Iantos and grabbed the phone that was resting inside the right pocket of his trousers and he realized how little they depended on them when they had the comms to communicate to one another, so the only possibilities that crossed his mind where the police or a drunken Owen but he realized that the last one wasn't possible anymore or he hoped. But as he lowered his head to look at the display, he looked in surprise at the name that appeared there 'the doctor'.

Since he had come back, he hadn't hear anything from him or more precisely directly from him, he had always had an ear out there for everything the doctor did when he was on earth, he believed it was an habit that he will always have.

'Hello, Doctor, it's the world ending again?' There was a long pause at the other end of the line, so he pressed his ear a little harder against the phone, while he waited for a respond from the other side, he could hear in the background a woman yelling, the doctor explaining something unexplainable and a slap followed by a silence.

'Yes, what? No, hello, Jack' Jack couldn't help but smiled at the doctor's voice, it was always a remainder of what it was and what it was going to come, even if the voice changed with time, but as he lifted his head, he looked at the expression of the man who was sit in front of him and frowned.

He could see the worry, sadness, acceptance and the fake smile that was just for his sake, he knew what thoughts were running trough his mind and he couldn't allow it.

So he extended his left hand and put it on top of Ianto's, grabbing his fingers between his, caressing them while very slowly he brought their join hands to his lips, placing a kiss on his knuckles and smiling at him, trying to tell him without words what Ianto wanted to hear, something he didn't say very often but it was in moments like this one that he realized that he should. _'I won't leave you'_

And there it was the expression he wanted to see on Ianto's face, happiness. While he lost himself on his smile, he didn't hear the doctor talking to him.

'…the photograph?, Jack, Jack, Captain' He dropped the phone in surprise at the doctor's scream that pierced his ear, and he chuckled at Ianto's widen eyes as he lower himself to the floor without leaving his hand, only to grip him stronger.

He grabbed the phone and put it on his ear once again while he could still hear the doctor calling his name or every other variation that could get his attention.

'Yes, doctor?' he asked, while the waiter appeared to his left to take their dirty plates away, he could see how Ianto lifted the menu and pointed with his finger to the dessert section and Jack nod.

'Who is the man in the photograph, Jack?' he heard the doctor asked at the other end, he frowned at the bizarre question that didn't have any meaning for him right now but he knew like it always happened with him, the constant babbling will end up somewhere familiar to him or so he hoped.

'Could you be more precise? You are interrupting my dinner with a beautiful man' While he said that he saw as Ianto blushed at his words or maybe it was the wine taking effect.

'Oh, yes, the photo that you had before I left you on Cardiff, I need you to tell me, Jack, the man's life depends on it' He frowned again at the words that were being say to him but this time he couldn't help but gasped at the feeling that was starting to surge on his heart.

Because it only took him a second to know what the doctor was talking about, the photo that was resting peacefully inside his wallet, it was a picture of bad quality but he had never let it go, it was taken or more precisely copied from a CCTV video of Ianto sitting quietly on the hub's sofa writing on his diary and nothing else, he knew that right now he could take something better even one of him naked, if he pushed the right buttons, but he just couldn't… it was the perfect reflection of a relaxed Ianto.

And before he answered, he lifted his head to look at him straight in the eye, to assure himself that everything was fine right now.

'He is sitting right in front of me,' Ianto looked at him with worry eyes at hearing his words and squeezed his fingers a little tighter.

'Jack, listen to me very well, don't let him out of your sight, I'm arranging the coordinates to appear next to you… well almost… near to you, right now.' In spite of the doctor's words he couldn't help but smiled and said.

' So, you'll be arriving in the next two hours or a month then?' He could hear the woman talking again and the doctor responding in low whispers.

'Hey, I'm a good pilot… Jack, don't worry everything will be fine' And the line went dead and for a minute he wanted to believe in the doctor's words but some part of him knew that something was about to end.

'What's wrong?' Ianto asked while he looked at Jack's lost expression, the only thing he did was to grab his hand tighter, almost painful, but he didn't mind because he knew something was seriously wrong.

Jack lifted his head to look at him, with an attempt of a smile on his face but before he could form a single word, the screams began.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

He could feel the texture against his skin, moving slowly with every breath he took, he could almost grab it between his fingers, almost, it covered his ears and his eyes but it was so thin that he could see right through it; he could see him. The tears that ran down his face, the blood that was drying on his forehead and his name being said against his lips, because although it let him see, it didn't let him hear, it was like being in a soundproof room. And he remembered when he was sixteen and he looked across the park at Carys and her friends, he watched as her lips move hoping that she said his name, hoping that she was talking about him and running to his house and telling his mother he wanted to learn how to read lips, and his mother's shock face at his strange declaration.

And now he wished she had heard him, because this must be the last time Captain Jack Harkness talked to Ianto Jones.

He heard a woman scream first, one of those screams that you only hear in a horror movie and when he turned his head it was the only thing that came to his mind, because there she was frozen in a single moment of terror, she was suspend in the air, held up by nothing, like she had jumped in the air and someone had taken a picture of that perfect moment.

The people around her watched in horror at the scene but they did nothing; he could see a teenager boy pointing his cell phone at her and taking a picture, showing it to his friend with a smile on his face like it was a magic's trick, while the woman hanged there without moving, only the eyes moved from one side to the other, like broken doll.

While he stood there frozen like the woman who was in front of him, he could see a coat flying at his left, it was Jack. He walked right there and moved between the people that were watching the 'show'; he stood under the woman who was suspend in the air by the invisible hands that held her, but Ianto Jones didn't know how right he was when that thought crossed his mind.

Jack looked at the woman who was right above him, like a contortionist from a circus, he could see the terror on her eyes and he looked at them, until she posed hers on his own and he spoke.

'Everything will be all right' and he smiled.

Katie looked at the blue eyes that watched her, she saw as the lips moved and formed the words that she had hoped to hear.

Once again she was sitting there, moving her food around her plate, forming happy faces while the man who was in front of her talked about… something, she lifted her head to looked at him and she took in his features, he seemed handsome at first sight but when he opened his mouth that was the problem. Since she could still see his lips moving, she went back to her plate once again and looked at the happy face that was there and smiled. And she realized that two potatoes and a stick of carrot were more interesting than the man who was having dinner with her, and she cursed at her parents and her own inability to say no to them when they tried to mess with her life, she could hear her mother's voice screaming in her head – you could do something for us, just marry the rich guy so we could live a comfortable life – and the fork scratch the plate's surface like nails on a blackboard.

'Katie?' She lifted her head at hearing her name being called and she glanced at the man's annoyed expression at being interrupted.

'Sorry,' She said and put her best 'I'm an idiot smile' that for some reason the man's bought and continued with his story, she had patented several of that ones over the years to made them believe that they were superior to her somehow while the only thing she wanted to do was to throw the happy smile that was resting on her plate over his head.

So she lowered her head and continued with the art work that could make his father proud, time passed and she kept on drawing with the little food that was on her plate, smashing the potatoes very slowly to create new forms and she remembered her parents expressions when she told them that she wanted to study art and how they laughed at her.

Suddenly something interrupted her thoughts, cold fingers that grabbed her waist, she turned fast to look behind her but nothing was there, she moved her head to the sides in confusion but as she looked down to her waist she realized that the feeling was still there.

She put both of her hands around her waist and she could feel the cold in her hands too, like putting them in the freezer when she looked for the ice cubes. She lifted her head to look at the man who was in front of her and the frown on his face and the first thought that crossed her mind was - I think he won't call me again - before something yanked her from her chair while the cold froze her in a single moment.

And now she watched at the beautiful man that was under her and she believed him.

Jack put his hand inside his pocket and grabbed the comm that was resting there, and very calmly he put it on his ear without breaking the eye contact between him and her.

'Tosh.' He called but instead of the answer he was waiting for, a noise was heard; thump thump thump... and it bounced in every phone that was there, making itself stronger.

Bouncing in every surface it could find, higher and higher until the only thing they could do was to cover their ears, glasses broke and the woman who hanged in the air screamed.

Time passed and suddenly silence reigned… and the woman fell from the sky.

Jack opened his eyes and looked at her lying there on top of the table while the dirty plate with a happy face fell in slow motion to the floor. He knew she was dead but he couldn't help but bend over and touched her neck looking for a pulse that he knew wasn't going to find, he lifted his head to look at the clock that was against the wall and remembered the time for the woman who laid dead in front of him. 22:10.

He closed his eyes and took a big breath, preparing himself for the next round; he turned around to look at Ianto but the sight that was waiting for him it became one of the images that he could never forget.

Ianto stood there frozen like Katie with both hands against his chest, so white and pale and he smiled with so much acceptance that Jack wanted to scream. Ianto's hands fell from his chest to the sides and he could finally see the horror that was behind them. Blood.

He ran while Ianto started to fall to the floor, but he wasn't fast enough or strong enough to catch him, he lowered himself to the floor with his eyes wide opened and place Ianto's head on top on his lap, he grabbed the tablecloth and yanked it from the table without a second thought, plates, food and glasses flew through the air ending with a crash against the wooden floor, but Jack didn't pay attention to the noise or the mess he could do, the only thing that matter was the man who was in front of him.

He put the tablecloth against the blood because he couldn't see where the wound was, it was only blood that it seemed to get bigger and bigger against Ianto's shirt. He pressed the comm. and tried again and this time he screamed.

Ianto looked at Jack across the room and he couldn't help but to be amazed at the man he loved, at his ability to take charge so easy without fear at the situation that was throw to him. And in spite of everything he smiled, but suddenly he felt something cold on his chest and he looked down but nothing was there except a little red stain.

As he lifted his head everything changed and he wasn't in the restaurant anymore, he was in someplace in another time and space.

He took in the man who was in front of him, looking at him in surprise and he knew who he was but the name couldn't leave his lips so he said the word he could never forget.

'Jack' And the man looked deeper into his eyes while he got near to him and greeted him in what he knew was his ship. But he couldn't help to look down at his chest and at the stain that he knew it was going to be there and he understood.

He lifted his head and told the words that didn't leave his lips before.

'You're the doctor' While he put his hands against his chest, hoping for one minute that he could stop what was going to come.

And he saw a little recognition in those old eyes that glanced at him, and he wanted to say so much, so many, he want to tell him everything he thought about him, about Jack. But only a few words left his lips.

'He's not wrong, he is just only human' And he smiled going back once again to the restaurant, and there he was in front of him, running to him, the man he loved and Ianto Jones fell.


End file.
